Hard drive replacement

[nick danger]

I'm hoping to replace my venerable early 2009 iMac sometime in the not-too-distant future, but finances don't allow at the moment. My internal hard drive is nearly full, so I'm planning to replace my optical drive (which hasn't worked in years) with an OWC Mercury SSD (500 GB) and the existing hard drive with a 1 TB Western Digital. A little wary of cracking the computer open, but it doesn't look too bad.

Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on how to allocate the data between the two drives. I'm assuming all applications, including DP, should be on the SSD, while DP project files can be on the new hard drive-- or should I continue to have those files on external (firewire) hard drives? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[mikehalloran]

Don’t. Get a 2T SSD instead. Prices start at $312.95. All you need is the drive and a $12 adapter. No special kit, temp sensor or special wiring and you keep your DVD drive. Here is the adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/Fenlink-Internal ... .5+adapter


You say early 2009 so it’s a 24”, correct? These are very easy to work on. I maintain a few of these at a couple of schools and have replaced the drives in all of them. You do not need to do many of the steps that the videos show. The secret is to use a big enough table that you can lay the iMac on its back and flip the bezel over without disconnecting the microphone—that and other tiny connectors are a real bearcat to reassemble so I never take them apart. With the bezel flipped over and the screen loose, it lifts up enough so that you can do what you need without removing the screen.

I would replace the battery at the same time. A CR2032 is fine in these. Unlike the 2009–10 27” iMac, these are on the front of the motherboard and easy to access.

The toolkit that OWC sells is fine but, really, all you need is a Phillips screw driver and a Torx T8, T6 and T5 — magnetic is very helpful. The suction cups are good but you can remove the glass with guitar picks, too—it’s held on with magnets.

The 2T Crucial MX500 costs $499 on Amazon. The new WD Blue is $492. Either is perfect for this.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073SBRHH6/re ... UTF8&psc=1

The Micron 1100 is the OEM version of the MX300 @ $312. The only difference is that any warranty must be handled by the seller, not Crucial. I’ve never had a problem with these. They aren’t quite as fast as either of the SSDs above but you have a slower SATA bus so the real world difference will be zero.
https://www.amazon.com/Micron-MTFDDAK2T ... rds=2T+SSD

[nick danger]

Thanks, Mike. It's a 20", which I'm guessing makes it more difficult just because things are crammed in a little tighter. Can I still follow the directions you gave, or will I need to dismantle as fully as OWC's videos show?

I already have the drives on the way-- the 500 GB OWC mercury SSD and the 1 TB Western Digital, along with the kit for replacing the optical drive with the SSD and the tool kit for working on the iMac. Total cost was about $275. My optical drive died long ago, and have been using a USB Apple Superdrive ever since (which took some hacking to make functional on this iMac.) You're right that having a full 2 TB on the SSD for not much more money would have been the better way to go. Will have to think about whether I send these back. But this still gives 1.5 TB thru internal SATA rather than over FW 800. Assuming I keep them, any suggestions on how I should configure the two drives, and the data and apps on them?

I hope to get a new mac sometime in the next 6-12 months after which I will likely dedicate this one for tracking in the band practice space.

[mikehalloran]

The OS, all applications and working files on the SSD. The HHD should be storage only such as your iTunes and VI libraries. If your SSD isn’t large enough for that, you need a larger one.

It is possible to make a Fusion drive of the two. The up side is that the OS decides how to allocate storage—you have no control over this. The down side is that it will get slower as the HHD gets filled. Plenty of web sites to tell you how.

Purtting both an HHD and SSD inside a 20” iMac compromises the airflow. These run too hot already.

A 20” iMac is little different from a 24” except you have a little less room. Both are easy to work on. Again, do not disconnect the microphone. Do replace the NV RAM battery.

You can and should run El Cap on this system. Enable TRIM by running the following in Terminal: sudo trimforce enable then clicking through all of the Apple CYA nonsense.

Time Machine is best done over Ethernet since these are too old to support 802.ac wireless. Unlike FW and USB on these, you never ever have sleep issues with Ethernet. The old Apple flat Time Capsules are easy to upgrade with large WD Red HHDs — these are extra heavy duty, low energy drives that run cool. I like the WD My Cloud as it comes with these pre-installed and are easy to set up for Time Machine.

[nick danger]

I'm just about to do the install. Would you recommend that I install only the SSD internally, and remove the existing HD to improve air flow? I'm already using an external drive for iTunes, and could easily remove a lot of old files that are currently on the internal drive that I won't need to access very often, if ever. Perhaps move the photo library to an external drive?

[mikehalloran]

I'm just about to do the install. Would you recommend that I install only the SSD internally, and remove the existing HD to improve air flow? I'm already using an external drive for iTunes, and could easily remove a lot of old files that are currently on the internal drive that I won't need to access very often, if ever. Perhaps move the photo library to an external drive?

That’s what I did with my daughter’s 2008.

Initially, I installed a 512G but when she went to grad school, I swapped it for a 2T so that everything’s internal. Although her MBP is now her main Mac, she still keeps that 2008 around. She has it dual-boot into 10.6 so that she still can run the Danish edition of Rosetta Stone—it’s one of the languages that dropped when 10.7 was released.

[AnnaHeath]

Can you please tell me if it is possible to change the hard drive on macbook M1 2020?
If it is possible, can I do it myself or is it better to do it through a service?
It's just that my laptop doesn't even have a cooler and it's tightly sealed, so I'm scared to take it apart.

[HCMarkus]

Can you please tell me if it is possible to change the hard drive on macbook M1 2020?
If it is possible, can I do it myself or is it better to do it through a service?
It's just that my laptop doesn't even have a cooler and it's tightly sealed, so I'm scared to take it apart.

It is not a DIY job unless you are super skilled with soldering and have access to the required tools and parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6gPNG1HT34

Unless your internal drive has failed, you are best off by simply adding external storage, USB3 or Thunderbolt.

[mikehalloran]

Can you please tell me if it is possible to change the hard drive on macbook M1 2020?
If it is possible, can I do it myself or is it better to do it through a service?
It's just that my laptop doesn't even have a cooler and it's tightly sealed, so I'm scared to take it apart.

Yes. It is not for the faint of heart, however — you should be scared, frankly.

You need to find the parts (there are links) and a second Mac with Ventura installed to run Configurator. You need to watch both videos.

MacBook M1 Pro — successful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9C0seGPu50

M1 Mini — unsuccessful, then successful with Colin (dosdude1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEKAY11NQs

Apple service centers can do this for $800 according to the second video.